Sunset Scriptures and Fired Gold
by addictedtomarbles
Summary: one-shot fluff involving Goku and Sanzo pre-journey. Sanzo returns from another search to find himself in the role of comforter but he's no good at the comfort thing


Sunset Scriptures and Fired Gold  
  
Drat, I should really doing my work rather than this, but I liked it. I did a check for spelling mistakes but I'm not the best speller in the world.  
  
Sanzo walked back into the temple with the early evening sun starting to shimmer and fiery gold on everything. Another day, and yet another fruitless search for his masters missing sutra. He had found absolutely nothing, despite wandering far and wide with senses outstretched. He was fed up of failure and wanted nothing more than to sit down somewhere quiet and relax for a bit; maybe go down into the town for a beer and a smoke. Those damn monks wouldn't stop whinging if he did either here and Sanzo wasn't in the mood for the hassle.  
  
"Master Sanzo, Master Sanzo!" came a hurried voice and the sound of sandals slapping on stone. So much for a moment of peace, that had obviously been too much to ask today.  
  
Sanzo removed his wide-brimmed hat and turned in the direction of the irritating voice, folding his arms and plastering his most hostile look on his face. He really wasn't in the mood today.  
  
"What?" he asked the monk coolly, whose name he never really cared to remember, instead he had always mentally dubbed him Tight-Ass.  
  
"The boy ... he's been causing trouble again. Master Sanzo, you must do something about this boy. Bringing him into the temple when he is such an unclean being..."  
  
Sanzo stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it experimentally. He wasn't interested in the latest bit of whinging from the monks but they'd never leave him alone if he didn't.  
  
"What did he actually do?" he sighed looking out at the sun that was beginning to set. It really did look like it was on fire now.  
  
A few others were flocking around Tight-Ass now and muttering similar things sounding like a flock of jabbering crows.  
  
"The unclean boy must leave, Master Sanzo. He defiled the meditation chamber!" said one of the others, shorter than the rest but just as screechy.  
  
Sanzo unconsciously flexed his right hand, his fingers itching to fire a round of bullets from the gun that rested oh-so-comfortably in his sleeve. He swallowed his anger temporarily, he was actually curious to find out what the boy had done to the oh-so-damn-precious meditation chamber.  
  
"So what did he actually do?" he asked again, drawing out his crown and placing it on his head, heading further into the temple, letting the monks cluster around him like flies.  
  
"He went in there!" said one of the monks wringing his hands nervously.  
  
"That's it?!" spat Sanzo suddenly, striding down the corridor and flinging the hat at his desk. It landed happily on a pile of papers. He turned back to the grovelling group of monks, obviously there was more. He put his hands on his hips and waited for the rest.  
  
"He dropped water over the mats and defiled the precious silence by asking what we were doing. The boy has no manners!" chirped the shortest monk, obviously eager to get in on the blame-game.  
  
A vein popped a little on Sanzo's head but he swallowed the bubbling yell.  
  
"You're all stuck up your own asses." He muttered, smirking inwardly at the thought of Goku's voice chiming in with those monotonous chants.  
  
"Master Sanzo!" exclaimed Tight-Ass suddenly.  
  
"Ah, shut up." Snapped Sanzo suddenly; he wasn't in the mood to listen anymore. "What did you do with him, then? Where is he?"  
  
The monks clustered amongst themselves, each looking to the other for explanation. The vein on his forehead throbbed alarmingly and Sanzo curled his fingers again wishing to the Gods that he could have the remaining cigarette he knew was in his sleeve. Hell, he needed to whole packet right now.  
  
"Master Sanzo..." started one of the monks, one with twitching eyes and a stuttery voice that grated on the ears. Sanzo was getting irritated by the flustering.  
  
"One of you idiots better tell me before I shoot the lot of you!" he yelled. "Where in all of damned fucking hell is he?!" he slammed a hand on the desktop.  
  
"Apologies Master Sanzo." Said Tight-Ass in a quivering voice; Sanzo had never threatened to shoot them before. "He... He... The boy wouldn't leave, so several novices chased him away."  
  
"He was disturbing the chants to Bosatsu-sama..." Chimed in the twitchy- eyed novice, cutting his whinge short at Sanzo's sudden movement of his hands into his sleeves.  
  
"... You." Sanzo pointed at Tight-Ass in frustration. "Continue."  
  
"... He kept causing chaos so we caught out with him and ..." Tight-Ass mumbled.  
  
"And. What?" Growled Sanzo getting more and more angry with the monk's floundering.  
  
"We locked him in one of the rooms in the East Wing until you returned." Said Tight-Ass in a jumbled rush and then stepping away and bowing low.  
  
Sanzo leaned back on the desk and placed two fingers to his forehead. This was getting so stupid. He should have just gone into the town and had a beer instead.  
  
"So, he wanted to know what you were doing, you chased him away and you then locked him up." He said slowly, coolly directing his words at Tight- Ass who was now down on his knees, being swiftly followed by the others.  
  
"No in those words, Master Sanzo ... We thought only for ... an unclean being..."  
  
"A simple yes or no." he said quietly. There was a pause and Tight-Ass looked everywhere than at him. "Just answer the question!" he barked roughly  
  
"Yes, Master Sanzo." Grovelled Tight-Ass.  
  
Sanzo drew in a long breath.  
  
"How long has he been in there?" he asked, fixing Tight-Ass with his most malevolent stare. The monk quaked a little.  
  
"Since this morning." He answered. Sanzo rolled his eyes.  
  
"Where did you put him?" he asked again, the voice dropping down to a cold tone.  
  
"The. The. One of the novice rooms in the East Wing. The one on the end." Sanzo pushed past him. "Master Sanzo?"  
  
Sanzo removed his crown and turned back to them.  
  
"If any of you follow me, I will kill you all." He snapped, striding out of the study and leaving the group to twitter.  
  
  
  
He stalked down the corridor, noting how many of the monks were desperately trying to avoid his path, they had obviously heard his tirade. The vein in his head was throbbing again and Sanzo felt like screaming at Goku for making him put up with this crap when he just wasn't in the mood.  
  
"Damn saru." He muttered, turning the corner and heading to the East Wing.  
  
Nearly all the doors of the novices' cells were open. The little pests had all gone off for chanting lessons or something. Not that Sanzo cared, but he saw that the door as the end was shut. Not only that, the door had been barricaded shut with a broom across it, making it nigh on impossible for anyone inside to get out without breaking the door down. This time the damned bastards had really gone too far.  
  
Sanzo strode down to the cell and listened carefully at the door. There was nothing at first and Sanzo wondered if Goku had escaped, which wouldn't be unusual. He tried to remember if that cell had a window but knew that it didn't and so listened more intently. He heard a slight scratch and a noise that sounded a little like a whimper or a sniffle. Sanzo frowned.  
  
"Goku?" he asked cautiously. There was a scrabbling noise and a thump.  
  
"Sanzo!" came the yell within. "Oh Sanzo! Please let me out! I promise I won't go near that place again! Please get me out of here! Please Sanzo!" the plaintive cries lapsed into sobbing.  
  
Sanzo gripped the broom and wrenched it away from the door breaking it across his knee in temper. He wrenched open the door and looked inside.  
  
"Goku?"  
  
The cell was dark, having no natural light. It had only a pallet bed and a low table on which a small shrine normally rested when the room was in use. Goku was on his knees in the middle of the floor; dirty, scuffed and sniffling back tears. His tanned body was shaking with something that could have either been fear or sobs. The door was covered in scratch marks from where he had been begging for release. He looked up at Sanzo with pink-tinged eyes.  
  
"Sanzo. The sunlight was gone and it was dark." He murmured sorrowfully, before scrambling to his feet and flinging his arms around Sanzo's waist.  
  
Normally Sanzo would pry him off at this point, swat him sharply with the fan and call him a bakasaru, but this time was different. Goku had been imprisoned in an isolated dark cave for five hundred years. The awful memories of imprisonment were still fresh in Goku's mind and being blockaded into a tiny room had truly terrified him. It was the worst punishment the bastards had ever come up with and it wasn't like Goku had done anything particularly bad this time. He sighed and rested a hand on the boy's head, ruffling the bronze mop of hair. Goku gazed up at him with eyes that had the same fired-gold hue of the sunset.  
  
"Why, Sanzo?" he asked suddenly. That was a difficult one. Sanzo could spend hours trying to answer that question.  
  
"Gods only know why." He answered. Goku shivered and broke away, hugging his arms tight about himself as if trying to protect himself.  
  
There were murmurs from the nosey monks further down the corridor and Sanzo growled a curse under his breath. He turned to leave.  
  
"Come on, Goku." He said coolly. "We're leaving."  
  
Goku swiped at his eyes with his sleeve and his eyes sparkled at Sanzo's use of the word 'we'. He went to jump after his master but thought the better of it in case any of the monks were watching, and followed Sanzo as docile as any housecat.  
  
  
  
Sanzo led the way into the gardens, deep into the trees where his Master had always found a quiet moment to smoke his pipe and talk animatedly to the young Kouryou. Goku tagged after him being unusually quiet, which was really unlike him. Sanzo reached a small clearing and then stopped.  
  
"Sit down there." He said pointing to a small hollow made by two large, old, gnarled tree roots.  
  
Goku blinked  
  
"I'm sorry Sanzo. I really am." He said, expecting the order to develop into a punishment.  
  
Sanzo shrugged.  
  
"So you said, saru." He said removing the sutra from his shoulders and letting it form a scroll in his hand. "I'm not going to do anything to you. Just sit there and try to keep your eyes open." He even managed a half- smile.  
  
Goku nodded and scrambled to the tree root sitting alert and cross- legged, curious as to what Sanzo was going to do. He was still jumpy from being locked in the room and was glad that Sanzo had released him rather than anyone else. He had been miserably lonely at the monastery without Sanzo and gone looking for something to do, or possibly make some friends amongst the novices that were around his own age. After much searching he had found them all in that chamber. He had never expected the nightmare of being locked away without food or drink or sunlight for simply wanting company. He would have complained about being hungry and thirsty now but he was too curious about what Sanzo was doing.  
  
His guardian had his hands pressed together in prayer and was chanting softly underneath his breath. A breeze picked up around Goku and he saw a dark-coloured scroll float in front of Sanzo and start to glow. Sanzo's chant picked up pace and the scroll started to unroll, breaking out into large pieces of scripture that spread in front of Sanzo like a shimmering web of gold. They curled around themselves and leapt freely into the air, reminding Goku of the birds that used to fly to freely around his prison. His eyes lit up at the sight.  
  
Sanzo remained chanting and pointed to a clump of trees, directing the rolls of scripture towards them. The scrolls leapt towards it and entwined themselves in the bark of the trees, wrapping them up in the rolls of scripture that were now emitting a faint white luminescence. Goku sat up suddenly as he felt the ground move beneath him and went to sit on the roots of the tree in order to get a better look. He felt a warmth wash over him like warm water and looked up to where the scrolls of paper were circling upwards.  
  
The sunset seemed much more intense in this clearing. Goku couldn't be sure whether it was because of the trees or the glowing scrolls of paper that was casting this burnished golden light on everything. Sanzo's eyes were closed and his hands were outstretched, directing the scriptures. The sunset illuminated him, making his robes and hair come alive with an almost celestial fire. Goku was enraptured by the sight; it was like his whole surroundings had come to life with this amazingly bright fiery light.  
  
Sanzo chanted one final syllable and the delicate scrolls suddenly burst free in an explosion of shining light. Twinkles of golden light showered down and Goku leapt to his feet holding his arms out letting the droplets of golden fire shimmer around him. It was a shower of perfect sunshine and Goku felt like he was in Heaven. He spun around in the light basking in the feeling of warmth and the feeling of being set gloriously free. He closed his eyes and felt himself carried away on a wash of golden sunshine.  
  
He blinked open his eyes a few minutes later. The fountain of sunshine had gone and the scrolls of paper had gone too. Goku was lying on his back in the clearing, with freshly grown grass stroking his back and a stray plant tickling his nose. He sat up and scratched his head, staring in wonder at the clump of trees that had been wrapped in light last time he'd looked at them. They were no longer dried out and dying; instead, they were covered in fresh green shoots and flowers.  
  
He turned to Sanzo who was leaning against a tree smoking a cigarette that had burned down almost to the stub.  
  
"Sanzo ... That was just so beautiful." He murmured.  
  
Sanzo ground out his cigarette and came over, holding out a hand.  
  
"I needed to practice with the damn thing." He shrugged, yanking Goku to his feet. Goku's eyes were shining with wonder. Sanzo went to leave, regretting what he had done; the kid would be insufferable now  
  
"Thank you, Sanzo." Said Goku softly, smiling at him.  
  
Sanzo reached out and ruffled the boy's hair once before starting to stride back to the temple.  
  
"Say anything about this and I will kill you." He said.  
  
Goku nodded and bounded on ahead of Sanzo, tucking away that delicious memory in the depths of his mind. It would be his and Sanzo's secret.  
  
  
  
"What you looking at Bakasaru?"  
  
"Nothing, you stupid erokappa!"  
  
"It is a beautiful sunset, ne Sanzo? Like fire and gold."  
  
"Tch just concentrate on driving, Hakkai." Retorted Sanzo sparking up a cigarette. "It's only a damn sunset."  
  
Goku just smiled.  
  
A/N: And off she goes again. Please review, I'd be really grateful and sorry for any spelling mistakes. I've overhauled it as well so the spelling mistakes should all be gone. 


End file.
